United Effort Aids Dead Soldier's Kin

ON THE LAKE FRONT - Saying goodbye

Keith Pearson of Tavares will be buried Saturday in his hometown with full military honors.

The graveside service will include a 17-member honor guard from Fort Stewart, Ga.

The 25-year-old Army sergeant and three other servicemen were killed Sunday in Somalia when their vehicle hit an explosive device. The family attended memorial services Wednesday at Fort Riley, Kan.

Funeral services will be 11 a.m. Saturday at the Hamlin and Hilbish Funeral Home chapel in Tavares. Burial will follow at the Tavares Cemetery on Dead River Road off State Road 19.

The Fort Stewart unit will consist of Army Chaplain Peter Sniffin, a bugler to play taps, a firing squad for a 21-gun salute, flag bearers and pallbearers.

The unit is expected to arrive in Tavares late Friday.

The Georgia-based detail participates in about 60 ceremonial funerals a month for deceased active-duty soldiers and veterans in south Georgia, parts of South Carolina and Florida.

''This is what Angel Flight is all about,'' John Pringle said Wednesday morning.

He had just heard from pilot Brock Cooney who was making a fuel stop in Jackson, Miss.

''They were halfway,'' said Pringle.

The CEO of the statewide Angel Flight central command was talking about the group that scurried around Tuesday to line up an airplane and pilot to fly the Pearson family to the memorial service in Kansas.

The family flew free of charge, thanks to Angel Flight's humanitarianism and dedication to community service.

Pringle's father, George, who heads Pringle Development Corp., donated the company plane, and Brock Cooney, the company's vice president of operations, volunteered his day off to fly the plane.

Angel Flight consists of pilots who donate their planes, time and fuel to provide free transportation to people in need who otherwise can't afford commercial plane tickets or bus fare.

The trip to the Midwest and back took 12 flying hours, not to mention a stop or two for fuel.

It costs Angel Flight about $75 an hour in fuel and oil to keep the single-engine, six-seat Cessna in the air. And if you take 12 flying hours times $75, well, I think you get my drift.

It cost a lot.

I know for a fact that Angel Flight officials and others in the community, especially administrative aides for U.S. Rep. Cliff Stearns in Leesburg and state Rep. Everett Kelly in Tavares, put in lots of phone time trying to assist the Pearsons.

Stearns' aide Catherine Potter earned praise for making the initial contact with Angel Flight, which called Kelly's team, Gail Bass and Shirleen Rutig.

From there, the phone lines were burning to the Army, Civil Air Patrol and people in the community with airplanes and money to contribute.

''I know that Brock spent the better part of the day on the phone looking for a quicker plane than ours,'' said John Pringle.

Here are some others who deserve a pat on the back for offering backup assistance: